ḤAZZAN, ELEAZAR HA- –
Precentor; lived in Speyer toward the end of the eleventh century. He was the teacher of Samuel the Pious, and perhaps identical with Eleazar, son of Meshullam the Great. The latter supplied many notes to the commentator on...

ḤAZZANUT –
Originally, as in the Siddur of Saadia Gaon, the term was applied to the piyyuṭim which it was the function of the official then called "ḥazzan" to recite. But as the duties of this official spread to the intonation of the whole...

HE –
AZZANUT ḤAZZANUT Fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; on its form see Alphabet. It is a guttural, pronounced as the English "h," standing midway between א and ת, and sometimes interchanged with these two. At the end of a word it...

HEAD-DRESS –
Covering or ornament for the head. Very little information is obtainable as to the adornment and covering for the head in use among the Israelites of antiquity. The Old Testament sources contain scarcely anything on this...

HEALTH LAWS –
The preservation of physical well-being is looked upon in Judaism as a religious command. "And live through them, but not die through them" (Yoma 85b, based on Lev. xviii. 5), was the principle applied to all the laws of the...

HEART –
Biblical Data: The seat of the emotional and intellectual life. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. iv. 23), refers to the moral and spiritual as well as the physical life. Animals...

HEAVE-OFFERING –
Present made to the Tabernacle or Temple for the use of the priests. (from , "to lift," that is, to set apart for a special purpose from a larger quantity, either voluntarily or under compulsion) originally connoted any tax paid...

HEAVEN –
Chiefly, the upper part of the universe in contradistinction to the earth (Gen. i. 1); the region in which sun, moon, and stars are placed (Gen. i. 17). It is stretched out as a curtain (Isa. xl. 22), and is founded upon the...

HEBER –
1. Grandson of Asher and founder of the family of the Heberites (Gen. xlvi. 17; Num. xxvi. 45). 2. Heber the Kenite, husband of Jael, (Judges iv. 11-17, v. 24). At the time of the war between Barak and Jabin, King of Hazor,...

ḤEBRA ḲADDISHA –
Name for a charitable society which cares for the sick, especially for the dying, and buries the dead. The name "ḥebra ḳaddisha" (holy society) seems to have been used originally for congregations and religious societies...

HEBRAISTS, CHRISTIAN –
The work of Christian scholars in the field of Hebrew literature demands special treatment, not only as part of the history of Jewish literature itself, but also as an indication of the relation which existed between Jews and...

HEBREW –
The Name and Its Use: The expression "Hebrews" is used as a name for Israelites in contrast with Egyptians, or by Egyptians for Israelites, in both the early narratives of the Pentateuch (J and E), but only in the story of...

HEBREW, THE –
Jewish weekly; established in San Francisco, Cal., in 1863, by Philo Jacoby, a son of Isaac Jacoby, rabbi of Lauenburg, Pomerania. It is still published by its founder, and is the oldest Jewish paper on the Pacific coast. Rabbis...

HEBREW EDUCATION SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA –
Organized July 16, 1848, largely through the efforts of Isaac Leeser; one of the oldest societies of its kind in the United States.The charter granted by the Pennsylvania legislature April 7, 1849, authorized the establishment...

HEBREW LANGUAGE –
Name. The designation "Hebrew language" for the language in which are written the Old Testament (with the exception of Ezra iv. 8-vi. 18; Dan. ii. 4 [after the fourth word]-vii. 38; Jer. x. 11; and a proper name in Gen. xxxi....